Makeup is an art form. Like a sport, the more you practice, the better you get.
It takes practice and time to create the perfect routines. I started at an early age, spent half my earrings on every product I found, and now all my friends book me (for free because I’m kind) to doll them up before every event.
Now, in no way do I claim to be an EXPERT. But, I am gifted in the skills of cosmetics. So I will share my knowledge the best I can.
First off, your skin type is more important than any brand.
I do not care if a brand claims to be made for all, that is BOGUS. Your skin is quite literally the canvas, and thus you must determine your skin type before you determine your routine. Personally, my skin is drier than the Sahara. Thus, matte foundations that look gorgeous on my friend’s oily skin, stick to my skin flakes and illuminate every scale of my lizard skin.
This is the most crucial step to makeup. Understand your skin type and what products will cater to it.
For a base, primer.
You do not paint a car or house without priming it first. Primer makes everything glide on evenly. Always prime your skin. I do not care if you don’t wear foundation. Primer makes your skin all nice and moisturized, and then creates a shield against environmental pollutants. I recommend Two-Faced Hangover primer, Mac primer, Smashbox and NYX primers make a great dupe to all listed.
Primers can be specialized as well. Some primers are green for redness, blurring for uneven texture, and orange for evening tone. This is another reason why it’s crucial to understand your skin, because you can specialize your products to cater to it.
Secondly, conceal.
I look like a Tim Burton character so I take concealing my eye bags very seriously. But even if you don’t have a case of raging dark circles, you can find a plethora of reasons to use concealer. You can brighten up under your eyes, conceal blackheads or redness, and use it to highlight points of your face, such as your nose-tip and cheekbones. Overall, concealer can be used for those who don’t like full foundations or face makeup to get a fresh clean look.
I love Tarte’s extra creamy shape tape concealer. Tarte has a variety for different skin types. Stick to moisturizing ones if you have lizard skin like moi, or neutral to matte if you tend to have more oil.
Now for foundations, BB creams, CC creams, and every variation of the sort.
If you claim you don’t use foundation or skin makeup because you only use a BB cream, you are a fraud. They are the same thing, different fonts. Maybe it has a little sunscreen in it, but at the end of the day, it’s still makeup and created with the same ingredients as foundation.
Foundation is just an umbrella term. Do not let tricky marketing fool you. A skin tint is still a type of foundation, as are BB and CC creams. That being addressed, foundations come under different coverages and are meant for different skin types. If you have oily acne-prone skin, you’ll go towards a more matte, fuller coverage foundation. If you are blessed with clear-normal skin, skin tints and BB creams are more appropriate.
Personally, I love IT cosmetics CC cream. My reasoning is because it is full coverage, if I blend it as such. If I wear it during the day, I pump enough to apply a thin layer to my face with my hands. Blends perfect, dewy and looks like my skin. At night, I can apply it with a makeup sponge to get a full face Kardashian look.
Now, let’s tackle the rest of your face products.
For powder, there is a plethora once more depending on your skin type. I use MAC powder because I love how it makes my skin look airbrushed. However, I also love Laura Mercier translucent powder, and Airbrush powder for setting my concealer and face.
For contouring or just bronzer; NARS, Two-Faced, and Fenty take the cake. You can get a powder, a few shades deeper than your normal tone, if you want a super blendable bronzer. Fenty offers a great variety of shades, and their contour stick is amazing.
Blush has been trending hard in recent years, and I have two favorites. NARS, and MILK. MILK makes a blush stick that is super blendable. NARS just always has a special place in my heart. However, any brand I have already listed makes a great blush, and everyone has a perfect shade.
Eyebrows, Anastasia Beverly Hills is the eyebrow queen. I know some have nightmares about the 2016 brow, but you all just overused dipbrow. Their liquid brow gel is also amazing. I use a dipbrow just to lightly, LIGHTLY, blend into sparse areas. Blend your dipbrow and use small amounts.
Setting spray is crucial! Especially for humidity, sweating, etc. It keeps everything in place. Urban decay all nighter, MAC prep and prime spray, and Two-Faced hangover spray all work wonders.
For eyes, do whatever you wish. Pigment, I look at urban decay, NAKED, Two-Faced, Tarte, and Morphe pallets. IF you are doing a crazy look, or something beyond basic, they sell eye primers. For eyeliner, I prefer to use a liquid, which most brands suffice.
Mascara and lashes.
Two-Faced, Tarte, MAC, DIOR, L’Oreal all make great mascaras. Almost every brand does now, and you can easily find a drug store dupe for the more expensive ones. For fake eyelashes, you can use strips, individual lashes, white glue or black glue. Use black glue if you wear eyeliner, and white if you do not. I love Ardells glue, as it holds well but does not rip off my natural lashes.
If you don’t know your skin type, there are a multitude of quizzes online to guide you. You can also filter products out based on your skin type using sephora, and skin concerns as well. Overall, skin type determines product and usage, so understand your canvas before you create your art.
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